We Are Good Citizens

Just before Spring Break we started our unit on communities and what it means to be a good citizen in our neighborhood community, school community, city community, and so forth. The students had some amazing ideas about not only what it means to be a good citizen, but what he/she can do to show their community that they are good citizens.

After we read in our Social Studies book about making a difference in our community, as well as what our responsibilities are as a citizen, we asked ourselves what was something we could do to make a positive difference in our school community.

First, we identified a problem we noticed in our school. On our way back from lunch we saw that there was a lot of trash on the ground in the courtyard around the picnic tables. Next, we brainstormed different ways we could solve this problem by making a positive difference. Then we agreed on a plan to solve our problem. Last, we made a positive difference by solving the problem. How, you ask?

Well, we put sandwich bags over our hands to use as gloves. Each table captain was given a 2-gallon zip lock bag for their table's trash collection. I told the students we would see which table collected the most trash... which, led to the question, "What will the table that collects the most trash get as a prize?". My reply? Why, an extra punch on their punchcards, of course! Well, that was all the students needed to hear to spark even more excitement in, "Operation School Pride".

So, which one of the four tables won the extra punches? Well, when all was said and done, we had four full bags of trash, and 20 students that worked really hard and took great pride in Crown Point Elementary by cleaning the courtyard. It was really hard to choose one table above the others. The students waited anxiously as I announced........ EVERYONE GETS AN EXTRA PUNCH ON THEIR PUNCHCARD!!!! The classroom erupted, and I think that the whole school heard their excitement!!

I have to say, what an amazing day we had. I couldn't be prouder of my swonderfully smarvelous awesomely amazing second graders. I la-la-love them to the moon and back!!